


Knowing the dancer from the dance

by fupette



Category: NCIS
Genre: Companions, Flirting, Friendship, Gen, Help, Slow Dancing, Waltzing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fupette/pseuds/fupette
Summary: Nick has a problem that only Ellie can help him with. Mainly fluff and friendship.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is my first language, all spellings and grammar issues are my own. My Irish spellings might annoy readers, but that is how my brain is wired and my spell check is configured! 
> 
> This is just a quick story where nothing bad happens to anyone, not even any swearing, just some nice friendship goals from our two favourite NCIS agents.

He can hear the scrabbling noise at the door, before his partner Ellie rockets herself into the room, looking uncharacteristically harried. “Nick, I got here as f…” the words die on her lips as she looks at her colleague's morose form. She joins him at the kitchen table, enquiring softly what exactly his 9-1-1 was. The effete invitation in his hands is her first inkling that Nick is out of his comfort zone; rather than in mortal danger. She succeeds in stifling an impatient sigh, as Nick still seemed uncharacteristically dejected, returning the paper in his hands to the kitchen table.

As Nick offers to make coffee, he finally starts to unburden his worries. Ellie wonders if he is embarrassed, as he busies himself with mugs almost pointedly avoiding eye contact with her. “My niece’s quinceañera invite came through this week”. Ellie nods along, assuming that Gibb’s would be accommodating with any request for personal leave, especially after the many all-nighters Nick had pulled with her on surveillance duty this week alone. She looks back at the pink pressed paper on the table, trying to parse the upside down words, waiting for Nick to continue with his tale, she stumbles upon the italicised word ‘chambelane’ but waits for Nick to confirm her suspicions.

Nick frustratingly stopped his story, seemingly agitated by something unseen, momentarily frozen to the spot. Ellie kindly guides him back to his original seat, slipping the pink paper into his hand. “Nick, I’ll handle the coffee, please just tell me what is going on”. She speedily grabs the steaming cups, adding the required milk and sugar, knowing Nick’s coffee preferences so well she could make it in her sleep, keen to get Nick to share his concerns, chased with a caffeine hit. 

“It’s Amanda’s birthday… she’s turning 15 at the end of the month”, Nick gave a tight little grimace before continuing again with a sigh, “I’m such a bad uncle”. Ellie moves a bit closer, reaching to give his arm a reassuring squeeze giving him permission to continue. “I need to lead off the celebrations for the quinceañera. It’s been tough for Lucia being a single mum. I should be doing more, it’s such a small ask, just the one dance, I just don’t want to ruin their day”. Ellie was acutely aware of how sensitive Nick is about his widowed sister and his family in general. Her placating hand moved from Nick's muscled arm to his hand, gesturing that he can place the invitation back into the safety of its envelope, before marching him out of the kitchen into his front room.

Nick is amazed at Ellie’s ability to improve his mood, he is glad that she is here to give him her practical no nonsense advice. He is bolstered by the wide smile she gives him as they change rooms, “Nick, I’ve seen you dancing, don’t worry you have moves”. He rewards her with a wry smile which doesn’t really reach his eyes, “Thanks B, sure I have some trademark Torres moves”, she watches Nick do his patented hip shimmy to emphasise his words, “but I can’t do a vanilla white-bread waltz”. Ellie can see that Nick is less tense, but still fairly worried, Nick gave Ellie a watery smile as he moved an open book from his couch exposing the garish yellow cover announcing Dance for Dummies.

“Oh Nick, I haven’t danced since my own wedding” Ellie winced reflexively, her past life with Jake was not something she liked to dwell on. “Sorry I needed a partner, you’ll see I need **sooo** much practise… I will be in your debt forever”. She gives him a playful dig to stop his grovelling while quickly retorting that he already owed her a week’s worth of paperwork. He returned her grin but he wasn’t able to hid his nervousness as he pleaded with her to be gentle.

He dances slowly and self-consciously, she watches his lips mouth numbers in time to the imaginary music in his head. She joins him after her initial appraisal, trying to match his pace as he adjusted his arms to account for the addition of a real partner. She hesitantly waits for Nick to lead, their rhythm at first blundering until Ellie’s gentle humming aligns them to an actual beat. As they continue to trace slow moving circles across Nick’s room, they both relax into the gliding motion, neither of them comment on their new found proximity, Ellie rests her chin absentmindedly against Nick’s broad shoulder, allowing him to dictate their movements, she whispers appreciatively into Nick’s ear, “I knew you could dance” her tone was teasing and she was glad that Nick took it in good spirits, giving her his best boyish wink. Their dancing devolves eventually into a less stolid affair, Nick playfully adds dips and flourishes as his confidence grew. As Nick leads her into an ambitious series of twirls Ellie felt particularly carefree, enjoying her closeness to Nick as his hand returns to her waist. She appreciate’s that Nick’s approach to waltzing is more free-wheeling than her ex-husband's attitude, Nick was awakening old feelings and desires in her to dance unselfconsciously for pure enjoyment, allowing herself to lower her tightly-wound guard down.

She can’t tell who tripped over who, but eventually they are both in a heap on the floor, neither of them able to suppress their giggles, both of them catching their breath from their prone position on the ground. Nick places a chaste kiss on Ellie’s hairline “Thanks B, I needed that. God that was fun”, he stifled his laugh into Ellie’s side, then rocking back onto his stomach continuing to laugh, gazing appreciatively in Ellie’s direction, “Jeez, I’m glad that I didn’t ask Gibbs, you are much nicer dance partner”. Ellie’s quizzical look was adorable, Nick explained quickly, still not fully marshalling his laughter, “The man has been married a million times, I figured he would know how to dance too”. Ellie joined in the paroxysm of laughter, “I don’t think Gibbs would have allowed you to lead, come on now Fred Astaire time for you to treat me to a bang-up meal”. As they returned to their feet, Nick gave Ellie a theatrical bow. “Dinner and a dance, I’m one lucky guy”


	2. Chapter 2

Somehow dinner and dancing on a Friday night became their thing, it was a habit, truthfully it was the best part of both their weeks. The venue was the basement of a local church and their dancing companions were each many multiples of their own ages, but it was fun. Ellie likes how her Mom sounded less worried about her on the phone when she lets slip her standing weekend plans. She didn’t disabuse her of the fanciful notion that she was painting the town red, after her usually long stressful weekdays. Honestly it was nice and lowkey to dance with Nick or the other golden oldies and forget the troubles of the world. 

It had only taken Nick a few Fridays dance sessions to extend the invite to the quinceañera to his partner, pleading with her to be his moral support, relieved when she said yes. The ladies of St Michael’s would now be off his back, they all seemed rather protective of Ellie and whenever they switch dance partners on Fridays they always seemed keen to talk about Nick’s ‘intentions’ for his blonde friend. He noted Ellie aways seemed to get showered by speculative matchups from proud grandparents on behalf of eligible grandkids or kids, especially when they switched to dance with other church-goers for alternate dances. Ellie always took these propositions in good humour, even when Nick teased her mercilessly when they grabbed food afterwards.

As the day of the party grew nearer Nick was relieved that Ellie continued to be an invaluable source of help. She had rolled her eyes when he had informed her that of course she’d be able to help him present shop for Amanda as she had been a fifteen year old girl, at some stage too. Ellie helped Nick pick out a new suit, she had the foresight to check in with his sister on the colour scheme and continued to drag Nick from store to store until they found the perfect outfit. She also cajoled him into getting his sister a gift, which in hindsight was a nice touch, he has so harried by the onslaught of shopping he forgot to offer to take Ellie dress shopping as a small thank you. He resolved to rectify this after their weekend away, as an early present he'd investigate upgrading their fights in the meantime.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Ellie watched Nick bask in the attention and love, surrounded by his family. Her fear of interloping on family time was pretty quickly dismissed as Lucia embraced her warmly, whispering a thank you for “organising Nick” before chivving the entire party towards her soccer-mom car. Giving Ellie a quick tour of the locale, until Amanda's impatience to practise her dance moves necessitated a move to Lucia's house.

As Nick practised the lead dance with Amanda, this left Ellie to attempt to help Lucia in the kitchen. “You are too good for him”, Lucia whispered sadly, before Ellie could protest, she continued her thoughts, “sorry I shouldn’t say that, he’s just better… so much more grounded when he is with you, maybe it’s because he is no longer working undercover. God, cavorting about with all those lowlifes... You probably know that our father ran out on us when Nick was two, it’s been hard for him and heck he is hard on himself...”. Ellie can see that Lucia is on the cusp of becoming emotional, probably reflecting her own daughter’s lost father, she felt ineffectual that all she could offer was an understanding nod. “It’s just so nice that Nick is with someone who brings out the best in him.” Ellie found herself wrapped in a warm hug again, wondering if she needed to set the record straight with Nick’s sister, the interruption of her phone ringing distracted her momentarily and then suddenly Lucia returned to her baking as if they hadn’t shared an intimate hear-to-heart. Ellie resolved to let Lucia know how good and true Nick was, given the emotions of they day, she figured she'd bide her time until after today's celebrations

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“This is so cool!” Amanda beamed in Ellie’s direction. Renting a sports car for Amanda’s big day was proving a hit with both uncle and niece, both looking at it admiringly in the front yard. It took some more convincing for Lucia to change her well laid plans, only relenting when Ellie promised that she’d drop the food and decorations to the restaurant before the celebrations in the unused mini-van. Giving Lucia tacit permission to treat herself to a spin in the car. The rental car also solved the logistic problem of going out to take some family photos and the sensitive task of visiting George Campbell’s grave with his parents, before they started the birthday celebrations in earnest.

Ellie helped Amanda and Lucia get ready, it was a sisterly undertaking and as someone with three brothers is was a nice change of pace. She enjoyed Amanda’s wolf whistle when Nick shyly presented himself for his sister’s approval, growing in confidence to give a twirl to the delight of his female onlookers. “You scrub up well little brother” laughed Lucia, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, before handing him a curling iron, instructing her brother to make himself useful. Ellie took the opportunity to do the last of her chores, bringing the cake to the restaurant, before heading back to change her own clothes.

Amanda’s quinceañera was a magical night. Ellie was surprised at how much she enjoyed the party. Unlike functions with Jake, Nick wasn’t welded to her side like an unwanted conjoined twin. She enjoyed the casual concern he’d shown her checking in initially with both herself and his sister, but she appreciated he also gave her space and latitude to chat to the other attendees and soak up the culture of the night. Nick acquitted himself with aplomb on the dance-floor, after his early duties were attended to he relented to letting his niece dance with her boyfriend and other guests. Ellie enjoyed the exuberant dancing when the band switched over to the DJ. This lively set allowed Nick to dance with both his sister and partner in tandem, glad that they could fool-around in unison, until both women groaned in sympathetic high-heel pain, forcing them to find seats to recuperate. The night flew by with Lucia sharing cute and embarrassing stories of Nick, causing him to turn a peculiar pink shade reminiscent of the non-alcoholic punch he’d ladled out. Eventually they soon found themselves alone for the first time all trip, as Lucia went to speak with her in-Laws.

As the DJ shifted gears into a slow-set, Nick helped Ellie out of her heels and back onto the dance-floor, her head pressed against his chest in a scene reminiscent from their first dance session, they danced obliviously to their surroundings, enjoying the privacy of their own company, content in each other’s presence, comfortable in their own shared silence.

The music finally stopped as Nick spins Ellie into a final dip before pulling her upright. He asks her half-jokingly how he can ever repay her for her kindness to his family, when she shares her secret smile (the one she reserves exclusively for him), ordering him to take her dancing in the church with the other old fogies next Friday. He knows he is the luckiest man alive, this isn’t the start of something special (what they have is so very special to him already), its merely the continuation of a partnership they have both started to cherish and rely on. Nick nods his approval, before gathering Ellie back into his arms, allowing her cute humming song score their continued dancing, oblivious to the onooker's, just as happy dancing today as they were for their first dance only a few short week's ago.


End file.
